Roman Zozulya, the striker of Betis FC and Ukraine’s national football team, switched teams. The Ukrainian actually stays in Madrid; it’s just the club and the division he switches. From now on, Zozulya will be defending colors of Rayo Vallecano, being on loan from Betis. The contract with the team performing in the Spanish Segunda expires in summer.
Currently, Rayo Vallecano is ranked 17th in the league – after 23 rounds.
The team’s ultras oppose Zozulya’s transfer - allegedly due to his political views. One of the fan groups of Rayo Vallecano posted a tweet displaying the player's letter to the club's president, tagging Zozulya as 'racist'.
Carta de @zozulyaroman18, nuevo jugador del @RVMOficial, a los rayistas pic.twitter.com/2vJPMdySCS
— Rayo Vallecano (@RVMOficial) 31 января 2017 г.
The footballer is known not just as a soccer player, but also as a volunteer supporting the Ukrainian army. Some fan groups of Rayo Vallecano and Betis point out that he often wears T-shirts with trident (the national symbol of Ukraine) and boasts about his bounds with the far-right units of Ukrainian military fighting in Donbas. That's apparently insulting the fans who don't want Zozulya to be part of the team.
